CVE-2025-55293: Meshtastic allows crafting of specific NodeInfo packets that overwrite any publicKey saved in the NodeDB

Severity: critical (CVSS 9.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.5% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2025-08-18 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-287

Description

Meshtastic is an open source mesh networking solution. Prior to v2.6.3, an attacker can send NodeInfo with a empty publicKey first, then overwrite it with a new key. First sending a empty key bypasses 'if (p.public_key.size > 0) {', clearing the existing publicKey (and resetting the size to 0) for a known node. Then a new key bypasses 'if (info->user.public_key.size > 0) {', and this malicious key is stored in NodeDB. This vulnerability is fixed in 2.6.3.

Affected products

meshtastic firmware: before 2.6.3 — fixed in 2.6.3

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: meshtastic firmware 2.6.3. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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